28.06.2010

Company owner receives tough sentence for fall

The owner of a Pittsburgh contractor has been handed down a massive fine plus three years probation and six months house arrest following a fatal accident and violation of federal safety at work regulations.

Christopher Franc, 44, owner of C. A. Franc Construction company was fined $539,000 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration after pleading guilty to willfully failing to use safety equipment to protect employees from falling from steep roofs.

Carl Beck, 29, a Franc employee, died after falling around 12 metres from a roof where he was working on Aug. 15th last year. The general contractor on the Washington job, Hospitality Builders Inc. was also cited with one willful violation and a proposed penalty of $70,000 for failing to ensure that C.A. Franc workers had fall protection equipment.